Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky

  Heads in Beds is a light read about a guy, Jacob Tomsky, that never intended on being a life long member of the hotel business.  But once he was there, he never left.  He worked in almost every position - valet, front desk and housekeeping management.  Though the hours were long, the pay was good and he found that after a while he wasn't really qualified to do anything else. 
  This book is what I typically consider a "beach read".  Nothing too serious or emotionally charged, just a fun story with amusing anecdotes that numbs your brain and leaves you happy and satisfied at the close.  Tomsky offers tips on how to win free extras when visiting hotels.  He covers everything from late checkouts, comped minibars and free room upgrades.  Other than being a hotel how-to, Heads in Beds was quick and funny read.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

  If you haven't heard about this book I'm sure that it will only be a matter of time before you find it on your radar.  John Green's latest tomb is popping up on "best of" lists everywhere.  While it's considered a YA novel, that shouldn't deter anyone from reading it.  This book created so many emotions for me that I'm having difficulty distilling my thoughts into a succinct blog entry.
  Hazel is terminal, and she has been for most of her adolescent life.  She meets Augustus and Isaac at her cancer support group that her parents force her to participate in.  What unfolds is an unexpected story of relationships made, strained and broken.  This is NOT a story about kids dying from cancer, this is a story about kids living with cancer.
  While the subject matter may seem a bit macabre, the tragedies in the novel are blurred by seemingly genius bits of humor.  I wish I had friends like this in high school.  They're bright and hopeful, full of love and longing, and for all intents and purposes, the kind of people I always hoped that I would be.
  I tend to lean away from books like these, simply because I don't want to depress my self in an imaginary world, when there is so much that is depressing right here in reality.  It turns out that this is a story of hope, and I know that I'll keep it with me for a really long time.
 

Recent Reads Titles

The Recent Reads Book Discussion Group met for the first time in 2013 yesterday, and for the first time at a new time - 4:00 PM. This nontraditional book group is open to all. There's no specific book to read each month - you read what you like, then share with the group!

This month we read a combination of fiction and nonfiction. It's always nice to add a new book to the "to be read" list! One of the books that sounded really interesting was "The Light Between Oceans" by M.I. Stedman. This book begins right after WWI when Tom, a returning soldier, marries and becomes a lighthouse keeper off the coast of Australia. Tom agrees to go along with a decision made by his wife. The book follows the conflict between the couple, and within Tom, as a result of this decision.

Other Fiction books presented include:

"We Sinners" by Hanna Pylvainen - This book describes a large family in modern-day Michigan who belong to a church that doesn't permit drinking, dancing, or television and discusses their individual reactions when two siblings leave the faith for the temptations of modern culture.

"Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver - Dellarobia Turnbow is a discontent farmwife engaging in a flirtatious relationship with a younger man when she discovers an unusual fire in a forested valley behind her house. This curiosity causes a stir in the scientific and local communities, garnering a great deal of media attention and leads to Dellarobia confronting and questioning everything she thought she believed in.

The person that read this described the writing as "Delicious!"

We also read a few Nonfiction titles:

"The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle & the End of America's Childhood" by Jane Leavy - Drawing on more than 500 interviews with loved ones and fellow baseball players, the author crafts a deeply personal biography of the Yankee great, weaving her own memories of the major-league slugger with an authoritative account of his life on and off the field.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition" by Julieanna Hever - Presents an introduction to a plant-based diet, discussing such topics as vegan food groups, vitamins, ingredient substitutions, and weight loss, with recipes for soups, vegetables, main dishes, and desserts.

The Dirty Parts of the Bible by Sam Torode

  I heard about this book through a recent reads book club.  As soon as I heard the title and summary I knew I had to read it.  Tobias Henry is the son of a Baptist preacher who lives in Michigan.  Like most teenaged boys he is obsessed with girls, so he is delighted when he happens upon Bible passages that reference sex and breasts. 
  After an accident leaves Tobias' father blind, embarrassed, and unfit to lead his flock, Tobias is sent on a quest to retrieve money that his father hid when he was younger on his family's farm down in Texas.  Along the way Tobias learns tough lessons about the world.  His travel money is stolen by a prostitute and he's forced to ride the rails with hobos.  One of which, Craw, becomes his de facto street mentor.
  Once they arrive in Texas, Tobias and Craw start working on the family farm while Tobias secretly tries to locate his father's hidden bank roll.  All the while Craw imparts his vast knowledge of love and women.  As fate would have it, there is a girl on the farm - Sarah, who Tobias eventually falls for, but what Tobias doesn't know is that she's cursed.
  This book was sweet and so funny.  I would classify it as sinfully delightful.  I was sad once I got to the last page.  Full disclosure - this book IS NOT in the Delaware Library Catalog, so I had to order it through ILL.  I also found the ebook version at Amazon for $1.  If you need a good laugh, definitely read this book.

Caribou Island

Alaska:  People come here out of curiosity, or for exploration, escapism, validation. Set on an island off the Kenai Peninsula, this is bleak story, every character unsympathetic, which makes it hard to justify why I liked the book.  If you've been to the interior of Alaska, or seen the movie "Into the Wild", you can begin to understand the harshness, remoteness, and desolation of the unforgiving land.  How it draws people there, what it does to them, and why only a very few survive.  

The 4 main characters are weirdly interesting, all self-absorbed in their own personal neuroses.  In the lower 48 this would be inconsequential, but in Alaska, any psychological weakness can prove fatal.

In the end, I wanted more interaction, deeper fleshing out of the characters, & a few plot issues resolved.   Caribou Island is beautifully written - haunting and disturbing, but left me wanting more out of of the book.